‘Corruption not an Indian issue’

Terming corruption and frauds as a worldwide menace, commerce minister and industry minister Anand Sharma has said it was unacceptable to single out India and other developing economies for these issues, as he assured the global investors of New Delhi’s commitment to an institutional mechanism to address these concerns.After meeting about two dozen CEOs of global companies on the sidelines of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here last night, Sharma said these companies are looking at India very seriously in the wake of recent policy decisions and initiatives the government has taken.

“I can see that there is enthusiasm, there is express desire to engage more with India and invest in India, by believing in the commitment in India and in economic reforms and liberalisation and also to create a regime that is friendly to investors,” Sharma said.

Asked whether there is a sense of foreign investors not being very confident about investing in India after the reform process looked halted earlier amid regulatory issues and matters like corruption, Sharma asked: “But, when did we stop, that is my question?”

“Regulatory regimes are there in any mature democracy or economy and when we had the collapse of regulatory regimes we saw what happened in the US and Europe.

“With regard to the issue of corruption, we always say that we will never tolerate corruption. But to single out one country or a group of countries for corruption is unfair. We have seen corporate frauds in the developed and rich countries.

“We have seen corruption scandals in many other countries, but this becoming a cliche with respect to developing economies and emerging economies is not acceptable.

We are a rule-based and rule-governed democracy and nobody should question our commitment to a institutional mechanism to address these issues. I am not seeking certificates from individual opinion makers who do not have adequate comprehension of from where we come from,” he added.